


and if i get burned (at least we were electrified)

by antarcticas



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - No Bending (Avatar TV), Best Friends, F/M, Friends to Lovers, Katara loves him anyway, Secret Relationship, Zuko is an Awkward Turtleduck, Zutara Week 2020, everyone finding out that these two idiots are dating, nobody is really surprised
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-26
Updated: 2020-08-01
Packaged: 2021-03-06 02:15:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 4,401
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25535701
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/antarcticas/pseuds/antarcticas
Summary: Katara and Zuko are friends. Best friends. That's it. Right? Definitely. Yes.Modern drabbles for Zutara Week 2020!
Relationships: Katara/Zuko (Avatar)
Comments: 39
Kudos: 197





	1. reunion

“He’s going to be fine if you’re a fraction of second late. He can take care of himself.”

“I  _ know  _ that,” she hisses even though the speedometer moves up another increment. Sokka groans. 

“You’re just friends, right?”

“Of course.”

“I’m not dumb. Your knuckles are turning white. Holding the wheel tighter isn’t going to get us there any faster.”

“Why are you here, again?”

“Because Zuko is also one of my best friends. Like he’s your best friend. And nothing more.”

“Exactly.”

“For someone who’s usually so intelligent you can be incredibly obtuse when it comes to figuring out how you feel about other people.”

“If you’re going to accuse me of something can you just  _ say  _ it?”

“Calm down, sis,” Sokka laughs before putting his hand on her shoulder. “I know you guys are together.”

Her red face gives her away even as her knuckles grown impossibly paler. She slams down on the brakes as they hit a red light and angles her face away from her brother. “No, we’re not.”

“I’ll look away while you two kiss!”

“We’re almost there, Sokka. Can you try not being annoying for . . . five minutes? I don’t think that’s too much to ask for.”

“Fine, fine,” he puts his hands behind his seat and winks at her. “Still, I promise I’ll look away.”

“Whatever,” Katara grumbles, pulling up into the small parking lot in the BSS Airport. She can hear Sokka chuckle again as she jumps out of the car like it’s on fire, grabbing her phone to check to ensure that she’s at the right gate. She knows she is. She’s already checked half a dozen times but this is  _ Zuko  _ and she wants to see him again so very badly and a nine that looks like a six is  _ not  _ going to make her mess this up. 

“Don’t leave me behind!” Sokka yells from behind her, slowly taking his time removing each part of his body from the car and she  _ does not have time for this  _ so she ignores him and starts walking (it’s a strange sort of sprint but she won’t admit it) into the airport and the baggage claim. It smells disgusting, like traveler’s sweat and vomit somewhere, and there are two airplanes currently unloading and one of them is from the Caldera. She lets out a sigh of relief and starts looking around.

And there he is, right underneath a pillar, one crimson suitcase already in his hand. She can distantly hear Sokka in the background screaming something about Zuko but she doesn’t care about her stupid brother because he is  _ right here.  _

He’s looking down at his phone, and she wants to laugh when she hears a soft ring and looks down at her own.  _ Are you here yet? I can’t wait to see you again. _

Katara stops right behind him and leans into the shell of his mangled ear. He can hear from it perfectly well no matter how scarred over it is, and he jumps back when he hears her. “Hey, stupid.”

“Katara,” he breathes, and then he turns around and she just wants to squeal in happiness. He is right here, right here in front of her. He looks similar, almost, until she tilts her head and realizes that he’s got a single ear pierced and that his hair has grown out further, still shaggy over his scar. But he looks good, and fresh, and Zuko, and  _ here. _

She can’t help leaning up and kissing him and then pulling back and giving him a bright smile. He runs his fingers through her hair, tracing her cheekbones and then her nose, and the way he looks at her is damning. She missed him so much.

“Right,” Sokka says, and she turns into Zuko’s chest to see him standing there with his eyebrows raised. “I didn’t look. Please don’t tell me you’re just best friends again. I don’t think I could handle it.”

Zuko laughs.


	2. counterpart

“You should ask Zuko for help,” Suki tells her as she groans once again. She looks up and sighs.

“I don’t want to bother him. He’s busy.”

“Well . . .” she reaches over and closes her best friend’s laptop. It’s covered in stickers, most of them having to do with the Ba Sing Se Children’s Hospital. She’s been volunteering there ever since she came to the city for boarding school when she was fifteen. “He’s practically your counterpart when it comes to political science, barring all other things.”

Katara squints. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

Suki throws back her brown hair and starts tapping the table. She tends to do that whenever she’s sitting still — she’s a little ball of energy and martial arts. “Nothing, nothing. But you can’t use ‘he’s too busy’ as an excuse. The guy would spend his whole life trying to capture the moon if it would make you happy.”

“Suki!”

“You’re blushing,” she moves her hands back over her head, “so my point is proved. Also, I have it on good authority that he’s about to fail chemistry. Help each other out, won’t you?”

Something feels off here. Katara tilts her head up and sees the nervous look in Suki’s eyes. “Ha! Sokka’s helping him, isn’t he?”

“Come  _ on,  _ Katara,” she whines. “I haven’t seen him in forever!”

“You guys literally leech off each other!” She holds up the biology paper to the side of her. “I just can’t tell if it’s mutualism or parasitism or just competition!”

“Don’t do the fancy doctor stuff.”

“I . . . you saw each other three hours ago!”

“You’re seriously telling me that you’re not going to use this as an excuse to see Zuko without Sokka hanging over your shoulder? Plus, you’ll get free tutoring. And a free make-out session. It all works. He can whisper stuff about the branches of government into your ears . . .”

“Oh, La,” she places her hands over her ears. “We said that we’d separate school from our relationship!”

“That’s unfair. Sokka and I don’t do that and we work just fine.”

“You guys are stupid for each other.”

“You’re not disproving my point. Go chill with your nerdy boyfriend.”

“He’s not my boyfriend!”

“You just said you two were in a relationship.”

Katara moves her glasses up on her nose and turns it up. “I hate you.”

“Yeah, yeah. Just go. I want to make out with  _ my  _ boyfriend.”

“Suki!” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> haha don't read this it's trash tyvm


	3. fuse

“I’m a Joey,” Zuko says, and Katara leans back to just stare at him. 

“You are so not a Joey.”

“Then what am I?”

She deliberates it for a minute before tapping him on the chin. “You’re a Ross.”

“I am  _ not  _ a Ross!”

“You’re a nerd.”

“I don’t like dinosaurs!”

“You have a strange obsession with foreign policy —”

“Well,  _ you’re  _ a Monica!”

“I’m not a Monica!”

“You’re the mom friend. You cook for everyone. And you’re crazy,” he notes, before cringing. “You’re definitely not my sister, though.”

Just the thought of that makes them both stick out their tongues at each other before roaring back in laughter. She falls onto his side of the couch and puts her freezing toes on his arm and he leans back. “Katara!”

It’s at that very moment that his small apartment goes dark. 

* * *

  
  


“A ton of blown fuses, for whatever reason,” he frowns as he comes back. They’d been planning to finish two seasons of Friends today and now that’s just a pipe dream and it’s two in the morning and they’re not at all tired.

“So,” she nods at the candle they’ve lit in the center of his table. “What are we doing?”

The atmosphere is strangely intimate for whatever reason; he can’t tell if it’s because of the candle or just the darkness, but he feels her touch through every inch of his body when she reaches out and grabs his knee as he settles down.

“Cards?” he tries, and he can tell she’s rolling her eyes. “Board game?”

“We’re not five.”

“Fine,” he crosses his hands over his chest, trying to create a barrier between her and his rapidly beating heart, “what do you want to do?”

They both don’t drink. Katara’s mother was killed by a drunk driver and Zuko’s father was an alcoholic who used to hit him. But a thought comes to her mind. “Sober never have I ever?”

“How would that even work?”

“What do you do when you play —”

“I don’t know —”

“There’s a way to play it with a point system, you know? Put down your fingers when you do something. Let’s start with five. Grab snacks.”

He shrugs and agrees before standing up and going to the fridge, which is starting to warm up. There’s the remainder of the pizza they’d eaten a few hours ago sitting in there, and he grabs some chips and soda as well before settling down next to her, hissing as she puts her hand on his thigh over his sweatpants.

Yes, he has a crush on his best friend. It’s not a big deal. They’re playing a game that tends to usually include alcohol and sex confessions at two in the morning. Time isn’t real. He feels hazy.

_ You’re in love,  _ Toph always teases him.  _ Just go for it.  _

“I’ll pull up a list of questions.”

“Okay.”

“Easy. Never have I ever shoplifted.”

Zuko’s finger goes down and she lifts up an eyebrow at him. “You’ve never told me that story!”

“Nothing much to tell. It was my accident, I was maybe five and Azula put one of her toy soldiers in my pocket.” His sister has really always been something else.

“Boring,” she says, but her tone is light and he loves hearing it. “Fine, keep your secrets.”

“I’m not hiding anything”

“Sure. Uh, never have I ever fainted?”

She watches him as his four fingers stay stuck in the air and groans as she puts one down. He has to laugh.

“Hey! It’s not funny!”

“It kind of is. Aspiring doctors don’t faint.”

“I want to be a pediatrician! Hemophobia wasn’t really something I saw coming.”

“Hemo —”

“Fear of blood.”

“You’re  _ afraid  _ of blood?”

“Well,” she turns up her nose, one of his favorite quirks, “my aspirations outweigh my fears.”

“Respect,” he opens his soda and starts downing it. “Tied. What’s next? Wait, give it to me, I want to see,” he grabs her phone, still warm. “Never have I ever thrown up on a roller coaster?”

Neither of them put a finger down. “We’re amazing,” Katara laughs. “We’re stubborn and straightforward and neither of us are afraid of roller coasters. Like Sokka. Sokka hates them.”

“We’ll have to take him and Suki to one someday.”

“It’s a date,” she laughs, and he’s  _ sweating.  _ “Let me see! Never have I ever done something crazy to my hair.”

He sighs as he puts another one down. “I have regrets.”

“Ah, the ponytail stage. I still can’t believe the pictures. You were an interesting kid in high school.”

“Shush. We’re not talking about that. Never have I ever . . . can we skip this one?”

She glances over at the screen.  _ Never have I ever run for my life.  _ “Yeah. Never have I ever had a physical fight with my best friend.”

He knows exactly what she’s going to do and isn’t surprised in the least when she jumps on him, lightly hitting his chest. “You can try, you know. I’ve done my fair share of martial arts. I’m not that weak.”

“Your sister can still beat you —”

“Oh, come here,” he frowns teasingly before running his hands around her waist, ignoring the soft skin and wiggling his fingers. “I know your weakness.”

“Zuko! Zuko,  _ stop,  _ that’s so not fair!”

“Okay, a finger down for each of us.”

“You’re gonna lose.”

“Yeah, we’ll see. Never have I ever been screamed at by a customer in my job.”

They’re lying on top of each other now and certain parts of her body are terribly close to other parts of his body. He swallows as she wiggles and complains, “That’s not fair! You don’t even deal with customers! You don’t have customers.”

“I don’t play fair,” he whispers in a voice that is supposed to be a little flirty even though she doesn’t seem to notice.

“Ugh,” she groans and puts another one down so that they’re evenly matched with two each remaining. “Never have I ever gotten a tattoo.”

She’s surprised when Zuko puts a finger down. “How could you have avoided telling me about that! Wait, more important . . . how, what, why, where, all the questions!”

“It’s the sun. On my hip. For Agni, you know, religion and stuff. My Mom used to be crazy about that stuff and I felt like I owed it to her.”

“Can I . . . can I see?”

“Uh, yeah,” he lifts up his shirt and moves his pants down a bit until the small circle with flames coming out of it is visible. She reaches out and splays her fingers across it, illuminated against his pale skin in the candlelight. 

“I like it. It’s very minimalistic and you and just . . . it’s you.”

He wants the moment to pass so he chokes. “You don’t have one?”

Katara shrugs. “I might when I’m older, but right now Dad and Sokka would both kill me.”

He thinks about her overprotective brother and cringes. “Never have I ever . . . um. Fallen in love with a friend?”

She leans over at the question, pulsing against the bright screen. “That’s a strange one to put in there.”

“Yeah.”

He waits as she moves her finger back in forth before putting it down. He does the same and is left with a fist.

“That was fun, then.”

“Zuko?”

“Yeah?”

“The person you fell in love with —”

“Am. I’m in love with them,” he doesn’t know where exactly he’s finding this confidence, but it’s fine. It’s fine. 

“Oh. So they’re in college.”

“Yeah,” he looks into her eyes, trying to swallow his nerves.

“Mine too.”

“Oh?”  _ Oh. _

“Yeah, he’s like the Chandler to my Monica except he’s Ross and it isn’t incestuous.”

“Oh.”

“Shut up, Zuko.”

“Okay.”

“Come here.”

“Okay —”

Her lips taste like warm pizza and promises. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> idk what i'm doing and idk how fuses work that's my ted talk. also sorry for using the most overused trope in modern au history


	4. celestial

Suki sneaks out as she side-eyes Toph. The girl looks like she’s conked out, at least. And as long as they’re quiet she won’t notice them even when she wakes up.

Zuko crawls in as Suki goes and they both high-five each other in their weird way. She’s not quite sure she’ll ever understand their relationship — whenever she and Sokka ask them about it her best friend sighs and says that  _ she’ll  _ never understand the camaraderie which occurs when you’re dating two siblings. She sure has no camaraderie with Ty Lee, who’s Azula’s girlfriend, so it’s a little hard to believe. The girl is annoying and lethal.

He slides in next to her as she reaches up to open up the top of the tent, letting the light of the stars come in. Toph groans and turns over, so they wait a minute before he crawls up to her again in time to adjust themselves into her rather large sleeping bag. Zuko is like a permanent hot water bottle. He always runs insanely warm, for whatever reason, and the med-student in her sometimes feels like he’s perpetually feverish.

She relaxes her head on his arm. It feels nice, just the two of them here staring at the stars. They’re definitely not going to do anything — she winces at the thought of Sokka and Suki next to Aang, those two have no boundaries — so right now is just a time to enjoy each other’s company and look at the stars. The moon is visible up above.

Katara reaches out to trace his cheek and he blushes and moves his hands over her face before whispering. “The night is beautiful . . .”

“Don’t say ‘just like you’. That’s cheesy!”

“Doesn’t make it less true,” he chuckles a little and she grins. “Come on, do your science thing, let’s look at all these stars and celestial bodies — you know,  _ you  _ have a celestial body —”

“I’m into biology, not astronomy. And besides, that’s _ not  _ what that means unless you’re trying to say I’m the size of a planet.”

“Uh . . . how do I get out of this one?”

“You stay quiet and don’t say anything?”

“As you insist, ma’am.”

“Fine,  _ sir —” _

__ “Can you guys not do your weird flirting thing in here?”

“Toph!”

Sure enough, the girl is turned over on her side. Her eyes are milky but her hands are crossed over her chest. “I’m blind, not stupid. I knew you guys were in here.”

“Um, please don’t tell anyone about . . .”

“You two?” she looks like she would have a hand on her hip if she was standing. “Sparky, I’ve known ever since you  _ stopped  _ trying to convince me that you two  _ weren’t  _ a thing. Terrible liars, the both of you.”

“So what . . .”

“Look, I love you guys. Do whatever. Make babies. All good. Just not here, please. I want to sleep.”

“Toph!”

She’s already back asleep.


	5. hesitancy

Aang is about to step into the room when he hears giggles.  _ A girl, laughing.  _ That sound isn’t Zuko’s — he can’t place it but it feels familiar, like he knows in his bones.

He should go ahead anyway, go ask Zuko for advice about his paper, but he hesitates, something in him holding him back, telling him to loiter for a few more minutes. Aang doesn’t eavesdrop. It’s just not something he does. But his feet stay stuck on the ground and he stands absolutely still as his ears strain to hear the sounds escaping his friend’s bedroom. 

Something was fishy from the beginning here. Azula wouldn’t have let him in without any ribbing whatsoever, wouldn’t have given him that almost pitiful look, if there hadn’t been something going on. So, yeah, turns out that there’s a girl in Zuko’s room. Fine. The guy’s relatively attractive, maybe he has a girlfriend. That wouldn’t be too hard to figure out.

He lurches forward again, thinks about just going in and not caring, but the thought of finding one of his best friends doing  _ stuff  _ with someone and potentially not wearing clothes makes him veer back into position.  _ What are you doing, Aang? Do you think it’s going to be easy to explain why you’re here when they come back outside? _

“No, you get up! Ow, that hurts —” Zuko’s voice calls out. He does sound lighter than usual, and all he can do is smile in happiness. Zuko does deserve the world and deserve happiness after everything his father had put him through. He’s glad they’re friends.

“You can take me, loser!” 

His heart stops beating.

He knows that voice — it belongs to Katara, one of his other best friends, the girl he’s liked ever since he got admitted early freshman year. The girl who laughs with him and helps him with his homework and teaches him how to do laundry. She’d thought about him as a younger brother for so long but he’d thought they could have been more . . .

He shakes his head and stays silent. There’s an explanation for this. Katara and Zuko are friends, too, close friends, and they might just be having a sleepover. They binge TV all the time together, study together all the time, it wouldn’t be odd . . . his eyes close tightly.

“Come on, get up. We can shower together,” Zuko’s raspy voice calls out, and another laugh rings through the air and it’s absolutely unmistakable who that belongs to. No wonder even Azula tried to prepare him for this moment. The water rushes on in the bathroom and sheets rustle. 

He pulls back, finally, from the corner and into the living room, lightly pushing open the door and sliding it back in place. He can be happy for them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry I forgot about this! yes, I'm sorry, Zuko is a Chandler not a Ross, again please don't read this  
> if Zutara was a thing Aang would be supportive and that's all


	6. affirm

“Can you just stop?”

“I’m trying to be supportive, Zuzu! Positive affirmations!”

“Don’t call me that, we’re not five!”

“What,” Azula snarks, but the teasing look on her face offsets her tone. “Afraid your girlfriend will start using it?”

“She’s not my girlfriend.”

“You want her to be.”

  
“I — ugh!” He puts his face into his hands and his sister laughs before crossing her legs together and leaning towards him as she dominates the other side of the couch. “I’m so confused, Zula.”

“You should ask her out. She clearly likes you.”

“She said she didn’t want labels.”

Azula lifts up a carefully manicured fingernail to the light and admires it. Then she points it at him. “When did she say that?”

“Uh,” he scratches the back of his head. “Last year? She said she didn’t like the idea of labels and relationships.”

If his sister ever could look less than uncomposed, she would in this moment. “Wow, you’re stupid.”

“It’s not like —”

“Zuzu,” the devil interrupts, “let me give you some relationship advice.”

“Who are you to give me  _ relationship  _ advice?”

“I’ve dated more girls in the past than you have your entire life?”

“If you dump them the next morning I’m pretty sure it doesn’t count as dating.”

She winces and he almost feels bad. “I’ve been in a steady relationship for the past half a year. That’s longer than  _ you  _ can claim.”

He thinks about Ty Lee, his sister’s peppy girlfriend who’s the exact opposite of her. They do have a relatively healthy relationship despite the issues they’ve both had in the past. Fine. “Okay. Advice. Just rip it off.”

“She does want to put a label on it and thinks that you don’t.”

“But that doesn’t make any sense,” he runs his hand through his hair. “Then why would she have said that she doesn’t like putting labels on things?”

“Zuko, breathe. Think about her last relationship.”

“Ugh,” he groans. “Jet, that idiot.”

Her eyes light up. “So she does have a terrible ex?”

“What does that have to do with anything?”

“What did he do to her?”

“He was a piece of shit, Zula. Dragged her to parties and tried to get her drunk, he even tried to . . . I don’t even want to say it. Over-controlling piece of shit.”

“Aha!”

“Don’t do that,” he deadpans. “That’s a bad look on you.”

“I am affirming! Being positive.”

“Shut up. What are you trying to get at?”

“Of course she didn’t want to put labels on anything when her last boyfriend used the fact that she was his girlfriend to be an asshole to her.”

“ . . . What?”

She reaches over so that her long nails are clawing into his skin. “Think about it. It’s not that hard to understand. But it’s over now, and she’s with you, so get a pair and ask her to be your girlfriend instead of your best friend with benefits.”

“We’re not —”

“I have ears, you know. Get the girl.”


	7. rebirth

“Do you ever look at who you used to be and just not want to be that person anymore?”

All he can do is point at his face, pulling her hand up to his scar. “Every day.”

“It’s seriously kind of attractive, Zuko . . .”

He snickers at her wide-eyed glance. She treats him like he’s delicate, like she knows to step carefully around that part of his past. “It’s not about the visual impact. It represents the boy I used to be when my father used to hurt me and my mom and Azula. The scar is a scar. It’s not worth wishing it doesn’t exist because it does. What really sucks is that it’s a permanent reminder that I couldn’t fight back and I couldn’t save all the people he hurt.”

“You were a kid. It wasn’t your fault.”

“I should have said something. If it had happened now I would have said something —”

She gestures wildly. “But that’s it, isn’t it? You’re not a kid anymore. You’ve gained a new perspective and you can let that part of the past go.”

“But should I let it go?”

“What do you mean?”

“Our experiences shape us into who we are.”

“Yeah,” she stares at him solemnly. “You’re right. And you wouldn’t be who you were today if you weren’t a product of your past.”

He groans and puts his face into her shoulder, trying to drown himself against her skin. “Weak? Anxious?”

“No,  _ strong,”  _ she pushes him back so that he’s forced to look at her face, reaches down and cradles the soft edges of his cheeks. “You’re sensitive and you’re strong and you’ve learned how to be better. With Azula, with your mom, with me. With everyone. You’ve taken your past and decided to be the exact opposite of your father.”

“I hate that he shaped who I am. Like you said — I hate that I have to be that person.”

“It’s not something that you can change. That’s why I asked the question, you know. I don’t think you should run away from the past.”

His lips rise up a little. “We should learn from our experiences.”

“Yes. They only make us stronger, right?”

“I guess,” he puts his chin on her head, feels her thick hair underneath him. She smells like soap and salt and something sterile. He wishes this was romantic but it’s likely she just came out of a lab and he can’t wax poetic about the stench of something sanitary. “Do you think sharing shitty experiences makes us work better?”

“You mean . . .”

“Yeah.”

“I don’t want either of us to be defined by our parents. I don’t want our relationship to be.”

“Is it?”

“I . . . I don’t think so. Do you?”

“We need an in-between. We don’t need to completely restart ourselves, pretend what happened didn’t happen. But we can work through it together. We can do that, right? We can do that as best friends and as . . .”

“What are we?”

He thinks that this might be a decent segway. “We’re people. Full, complete people. And we don’t need each other to work through trauma. We don’t. But we like each other.”

Zuko almost winces after he says the words. They could be taken the wrong way but this is Katara and she knows what he isn’t saying. “I think yes.”

“Really?”

“I think that being in an official relationship — being whole and functioning  _ despite  _ each other — that’s good. We’re not crutches, emotionally. I think I just realized that.”

“Good.”

“Good.”

“Can you say it first?”

“Fine. Boyfriend.”

“Girlfriend.”

“I’m happy I have you.”

“Me too.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I lowkey don't even know what this entire fic is. this chapter has literally nothing to do with rebirth but I couldn't think of anything lol. if you actually read this, thanks! even if I don't know why because this is really sort of disjointed in the not-good way. I appreciate you <3

**Author's Note:**

> I've never done anything like this and I don't know what I'm doing at all! Sarah (aka lettersfromnowhere) explained Zutara week to me and here I am. I really can't invest in oneshots every day so enjoy this little drabble collection ;)


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